(OT) RE: Swedes in Finland

[Christina Hellström]

I'm going to answer to three mails in one, hope you forgive me, but as this
is so off topic I want to minimize the mails. I think this would be best
taken to email, and I will happily answer if anyone for some strange reason
wants to talk about the Swedish language in Finland.

> Sigvald:
>
>  >However AFAIK unlike many other minorities around
> > the world (Cyprus, etc.) you see yourselves as Finns not as Swedes and
is
> > thus not demanding your own state, etc. Thus there is no etnic conflicts
in
> > Finland as is known from other places in he world. I guess explanations
for
> > that is that you share the same alphabeth, the same religious faith,
etc.
> > and even that both languages are understood by most of the population.
Well no, there aren't any 'etnic conflicts' especially if we compare to what
even today is happening in the world. But, I don't want to attribute it to
any similarities (or dissimilarities), simply because that is a convinient
reason for anyone to use to discriminate against 'other' people that are
seen as too 'different' (this is currently a very hot button for me for
totally different reasons).

From: Dan Rosenberg (in response to previous mail)
> I'm confused. Why would Swedes in Finland want to form their own
> state when Sweden is right next door? All they'd have to do is
> get on a train and actually go there.-Dan
Urgh... well... how should I put this... The above statement is like
suggesting to a French-Canadian to move to France. I'm not a Swede in the
meaning of being a subject of or even indentifying myself with Sweden in any
way, and as far as I know most, if not all, Sweden-Finns (finlandssvenskar),
want to continue to live just like it is now. But this is a can of worms,
and although a very small one, I don't want to open it here... my cultural
background is something that is important to me, but I'm sure most people
here are not interested, and it is off topic.

Rob Klein:
> Christina.....do you by any chance live in The Aaland Islands
(Ahvenanmaa)? If
> not, then Turku Pori? Can you trace your family history back to the
Swedish
> colonists?
Close, I'm from the archipelago between the Aaland Islands and Turku. And
no, the direct paternal line is broken (IIRC) in the middle of the 17th
century by an unknown father, but I hope to someday map the whole family
tree as far as possible, not just the paternal line as that is just soooo...
paternalistic. :)

And by this I'm bowing out of the discussion. I'm sorry if I fanned any
flames. Now, where did I put my lurking cloak?

--
//Christina Hellström
  http://www.geocities.com/chellstr/